9-18-22
Amos: The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Never will I forget a thing they have done!
The Lord equally remembers our greed and our generosity!
1. We spend a lot of time worrying about whether the Lord remembers the bad that we’ve done… HE DOES!
2. But for some reason, we forget that he’s been with us along the way as we’ve succeeded.
3. He’ll never forget, as he is and ever shall be our Lord!
4. We are equally loved, no matter our transgression or our success!
Psalm: He raises up the lowly from the dust; from the dunghill he lifts up the poor to seat them with princes, with the princes of his own people.
My Dad died 25 years ago, this coming Friday, about the same time as Mother Teresa and Princess Diana… And tomorrow they’ll bury the Queen! Look, we’re all equalized in death, and we’re all availed to the true kingdom of God. Princes and Paupers, Kings and servants…
In the Gospel today we see a the work of a “dishonest steward,” who masterfully comes up with a way that he cover his “keaster” with the people he’ll have to live with after he’s fired. He basically, gives away his share so as to collect what the Master wants and and still put him in a good light with his neighbors, who seem to be getting a gift…Sounds like todays debt forgiveness argument to me.
Jesus in Luke’s Gospel seems to offer a compliment to the intent when he adds that “the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light… The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones…”
In the everyday humdrum of life, we rarely think about the ultimate future. Life itself pressures us into shortsighted choices for living. The day to day grind, brings with it day to day solutions and decisions. Discipleship, on the other hand, calls us to live with our “eye on the prize” in such a way that our daily choices form patterns of behavior that move us toward God’s promise of life eternal. Don’t get me wrong, we plan well for things like our retirement, but what about looking ahead to whom we truly serve?
If you make the trip into Huntsville, and find yourself stopped at the light, turning onto Governors, there’s always that person who has positioned themselves right outside your car, asking for money, that puts you in the position to hope that he/she doesn’t choose your car. Sparing you the conundrum of whether or not you should give them money… I mean, they could solve their problem, if they would just get a job, or stop spending what little they have on drugs and stuff, or clean up their lives and start planning for their future… Ah, they won’t listen. They’ll just keep on hustling… Maybe they’ll just go on to the other car, and I won’t have to deal with it!
You see, for those of us who wish to follow Christ and yet find ourselves rich in material things, Gospel teachings concerning money can be troubling. At times it becomes so perplexing that we are tempted to stop searching for a solution… It seems so hard, even impossible, to integrate material security with full discipleship that we often give up trying to figure it out. Maybe it will all just go away.
Jesus, in the Gospel according to Luke, tells us that we should not give up the effort. This is the recommendation (not advice to deceive and manipulate) behind the story of the unjust steward. The steward musters every available bit of farsightedness and craft when it comes to working out his material fate. And he is dealing with mere earthly things. We, however, are trying to figure out something that touches the very meaning of who we are and what we forever cling to.
Luke himself provides two guidelines to help us figure out our relationship to money. The whole of chapter 16, with its four interrelated sections, exemplifies the first guideline: Money is for persons and the only proper use of it is in sharing. What is more, those who make special claim on our sharing are the poor. This is an inescapable conclusion from Luke’s teaching. It is a teaching with ancient pedigree, the same doctrine that led Amos to indict those who “trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land.” And just as Amos said that God would never forget the exploiting of workers for silver, dress, and drink, so also Luke warned of a dire fate for the rich man in the story of Lazarus, which we’ll hear next Sunday.
Luke’s second guideline is the pithy moral drawn from the story of the steward: “No servant can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other or be attentive to the one and despise the other. You cannot give yourself to God and money.” The more we allow ourselves to be mastered by money, the more we are likely to despise those who remind us of another Master. We might even resent the very Gospels that challenge our attachment.
So it’s intentional that today (and next week) that we’re reflecting on Catholic Charities and the call of the gospels, nudging us not to give up on the poor or the ways, however small and passing, that we might give to them.
Amos: The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Never will I forget a thing they have done!
The Lord equally remembers our greed and our generosity!
1. We spend a lot of time worrying about whether the Lord remembers the bad that we’ve done… HE DOES!
2. But for some reason, we forget that he’s been with us along the way as we’ve succeeded.
3. He’ll never forget, as he is and ever shall be our Lord!
4. We are equally loved, no matter our transgression or our success!
Psalm: He raises up the lowly from the dust; from the dunghill he lifts up the poor to seat them with princes, with the princes of his own people.
My Dad died 25 years ago, this coming Friday, about the same time as Mother Teresa and Princess Diana… And tomorrow they’ll bury the Queen! Look, we’re all equalized in death, and we’re all availed to the true kingdom of God. Princes and Paupers, Kings and servants…
In the Gospel today we see a the work of a “dishonest steward,” who masterfully comes up with a way that he cover his “keaster” with the people he’ll have to live with after he’s fired. He basically, gives away his share so as to collect what the Master wants and and still put him in a good light with his neighbors, who seem to be getting a gift…Sounds like todays debt forgiveness argument to me.
Jesus in Luke’s Gospel seems to offer a compliment to the intent when he adds that “the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light… The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones…”
In the everyday humdrum of life, we rarely think about the ultimate future. Life itself pressures us into shortsighted choices for living. The day to day grind, brings with it day to day solutions and decisions. Discipleship, on the other hand, calls us to live with our “eye on the prize” in such a way that our daily choices form patterns of behavior that move us toward God’s promise of life eternal. Don’t get me wrong, we plan well for things like our retirement, but what about looking ahead to whom we truly serve?
If you make the trip into Huntsville, and find yourself stopped at the light, turning onto Governors, there’s always that person who has positioned themselves right outside your car, asking for money, that puts you in the position to hope that he/she doesn’t choose your car. Sparing you the conundrum of whether or not you should give them money… I mean, they could solve their problem, if they would just get a job, or stop spending what little they have on drugs and stuff, or clean up their lives and start planning for their future… Ah, they won’t listen. They’ll just keep on hustling… Maybe they’ll just go on to the other car, and I won’t have to deal with it!
You see, for those of us who wish to follow Christ and yet find ourselves rich in material things, Gospel teachings concerning money can be troubling. At times it becomes so perplexing that we are tempted to stop searching for a solution… It seems so hard, even impossible, to integrate material security with full discipleship that we often give up trying to figure it out. Maybe it will all just go away.
Jesus, in the Gospel according to Luke, tells us that we should not give up the effort. This is the recommendation (not advice to deceive and manipulate) behind the story of the unjust steward. The steward musters every available bit of farsightedness and craft when it comes to working out his material fate. And he is dealing with mere earthly things. We, however, are trying to figure out something that touches the very meaning of who we are and what we forever cling to.
Luke himself provides two guidelines to help us figure out our relationship to money. The whole of chapter 16, with its four interrelated sections, exemplifies the first guideline: Money is for persons and the only proper use of it is in sharing. What is more, those who make special claim on our sharing are the poor. This is an inescapable conclusion from Luke’s teaching. It is a teaching with ancient pedigree, the same doctrine that led Amos to indict those who “trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land.” And just as Amos said that God would never forget the exploiting of workers for silver, dress, and drink, so also Luke warned of a dire fate for the rich man in the story of Lazarus, which we’ll hear next Sunday.
Luke’s second guideline is the pithy moral drawn from the story of the steward: “No servant can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other or be attentive to the one and despise the other. You cannot give yourself to God and money.” The more we allow ourselves to be mastered by money, the more we are likely to despise those who remind us of another Master. We might even resent the very Gospels that challenge our attachment.
So it’s intentional that today (and next week) that we’re reflecting on Catholic Charities and the call of the gospels, nudging us not to give up on the poor or the ways, however small and passing, that we might give to them.
Inspired by: Fr. John Kavanaugh, SJ https://liturgy.sluhostedsites.org/25OrdC091822/theword_kavanaugh.html
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